The annual “Parade of Saints” in Manila will be held online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“In this time of pandemic, the traditional ‘Parade of Saints’ will continue,” read a social media post of the Santisima Trinidad Parish in Malate.
“We just changed the concept so we can still be together even if it’s online,” it added.
The parish called on everyone to join the online activity that has been dubbed “Your Saint Sounds Familiar.”
The parish said participants need only to dress up like their favorite saint, look for a famous quote of the saint, take a video, and send it to [email protected] on or before October 28.
A prize awaits for anyone who resembles most the chosen saint.
The Catholic Church has been promoting the “March of Saints” to help bring the essence of the observance of All Saints’ Day and to encourage children to wear saintly costumes instead of scary ones during Halloween.
The “March of Saints” highlights the lives and virtues of Catholic saints and aims to replac the popular Halloween concepts.
The activity is usually held before All Saints’ Day when Filipino Catholics remember their dearly departed.
The Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar marks November 1 as the Solemnity of All Saints.
Through the years, All Saints’ Day Eve has been known as “All Hallow’s Eve” or Halloween, from the word “hallow,” which means “holy.” The suffix “een” is supposed to be an abbreviation of “evening.”
The celebration refers to the Eve of All Hallows, the night before the Christian holy day that honors saintly people of the past.
Secular influence, however, took away the “holy” in Halloween through fancy dress parties where people wear costumes to look like monsters, ghouls and other evil entities.
The practice of dressing up like creatures of the night and demons reportedly has pagan origins.
In recent years, church leaders have encouraged parents to dress their children “like saints and not like characters from the underworld” to create a deeper awareness about the lives of saints.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the Commission on the Laity, said Halloween is not a Christian celebration but a “celebration of death.” He said All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day are “celebrations of life.”
He said when people visit their dearly departed during these days, they say prayers, offer flowers, light candles and bring food, which are all signs of life.
Last year, the prelate said the “Parade of Saints” is a reclaiming of the eve of All Saints’ Day for Christ.
“It really belongs to Christ because it is the beginning of All Saints’ Day, the feast of all who have washed their robes with the Blood of the Lamb,” Bishop Pabillo said.
